Americans love coffee -- a fact that’s proven by statistics. Approximately 60% of all American adults drink one to three cups of coffee per day, with an incredible 21% drinking between four and eight cups of coffee per day.

In short, coffee isn’t just popular -- it’s arguably the most popular hot beverage available for most adults.

With increasingly busy schedules, most people no longer enjoy their coffee while seated in a café. Instead, they opt to take their coffee out with them, drinking it on the way to work, in the car, at the office or simply while out and about.

Because of this, the right disposable coffee cups are essential for the success of your coffee shop.

From sizes to materials, custom designs and more, we’ve explained everything you need to know about coffee cups below, helping you put together all of the cups and other essentials required to run a successful coffee shop.

Disposable Coffee Cup Sizes

Disposable coffee cups come in a wide variety of sizes, ranging from small cups designed for single servings of fresh espresso to large cups designed to contain large lattes, Americanos, cappuccinos and other water and milk-based coffee beverages.

There are also plastic coffee cups, which are designed to hold iced beverages and blended coffee drinks.

Four Ounce Coffee Cups

Four-ounce cups are usually the smallest disposable coffee cups available. These cups are typically used for small servings of espresso, such as single or double-shot espresso drinks, plus espresso-based drinks such as espresso macchiato.

If you serve espresso in your coffee shop, you’ll want a reasonable supply of these cups on hand, as they can help you avoid wasting larger disposable coffee cups on smaller servings.

As well as being perfectly sized for espresso shots, four-ounce coffee cups make great taste tester cups, helping you let customers sample different coffee blends, brewing methods, and other options before deciding what to purchase.

Eight Ounce Coffee Cups

Designed for small to medium-sized hot coffee beverages, eight-ounce coffee cups are the industry standard for small coffee servings. If you offer small, medium and large sizes, you’ll likely want to choose these cups for your “small” option.

At eight ounces, these cups are large enough to hold a small to mid-sized Americano, latte, cappuccino or other water or milk-based coffee. Like all of our hot cups, they’re designed to safely contain hot beverages without weakening due to heat.

10 and 12 Ounce Coffee Cups

10 and 12-ounce coffee cups are medium in size, making them an excellent option for your mid-sized serving. These cups have slightly more space than our eight-ounce coffee cups, making them a great upsell option.

These two cup sizes differ slightly in design and dimensions. The 10-ounce cups are shorter, with a slightly wider circumference. The 12-ounce cups have a slightly slimmer, taller design that’s ideal for lattes, cappuccinos and other drinks with plenty of milk foam.

16 and 20 Ounce Coffee Cups

Want to offer a really large serving size to your customers? Then you’ll want to stock a large supply of our 16 and 20-ounce disposable coffee cups, which are ideal as “large” and “extra large” serving sizes.

At more than double the size of a standard eight-ounce cup of coffee, these large disposable cups are great as optional upsells for your customers that really need a large jolt of caffeine in the morning, as well as for people that prefer their coffee on the large side.

Both of these disposable cups have a tall, slim design, with a similar circumference to many of our smaller coffee cups. This means that despite their large capacity, they can still comfortably fit inside most vehicle cup holders for extra convenience.

Disposable Coffee Cup Materials

Disposable coffee cups are available in two different materials -- single PE paper, which is used for hot beverages, and plastic. Plastic cups are almost exclusively used for cold drinks, such as iced coffees, blended coffee beverages, and smoothies.

If your coffee shop offers both hot and cold coffee beverages, you’ll want to have a mix of both PE paper cups, which can safely hold hot beverages without warping or weakening and plastic cups, which are optimal for cold beverages.

Customizing Your Coffee Cups

Interested in customizing your coffee cups? We offer customization options for all of our coffee cup sizes, from four ounces all the way up to our extra-large 20-ounce disposable cups.

All of our disposable coffee cups can be customized with your color scheme, logo, brand name, tagline and other information. Learn more about our custom printed coffee cups on our custom disposable cup branding page.

Order Cups and Other Supplies for Your Coffee Business

Are you searching for a reliable supplier of disposable cups for your café or restaurant? We’re here to help. From small cafés to large chains, we supply disposable cups, utensils and other essentials to a diverse range of food and beverage businesses.

For more information, view our range of café supplies online. You can also contact us directly to talk to a member of our team and request a quote for your business.